Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Farmers harvest short term crops on vast dry land of KRS

Due to insufficient rains
and drought the receding backwaters at Krishnaraja Sagar Reservoir
has exposed vast areas of dry lands, which at normal times would
remain submerged under flowing Cauvery river.

This has turned into a
boon for farmers residing on the banks of Krishnaraja Reservoir.
Taking the advantage of the exposed dry lands the farmers have
started harvesting short term crops stretching over quite a few
acres, right behind the dam. Acres of land has turned into a green
carpet making one wonder whether a river ever flowed there.

Farmers of Kannambadi,
Anandvoor and surrounding villages are growing crops like Sesame
(Yellu), field bean (Thadnikalu), watermelon, Jowar and other crops
which can be harvested within a span of two to three months. Some
farmers had already begun harvesting dried field bean to prepare
seeds for the next sowing session.

The river bed silt is
naturally rich in soil nutrients, doesn't need any fertilizers or
chemicals, says farmers. Being already a wet land there is less
dependency on water. In case, water is needed the farmers collect
water from the river in pot and sprinkle over crops. The farmers
claimed that lands once belonged to their ancestors which was
submerged after the construction of the Dam.

Farmer couple Vijaya and
Lokesh said "We physically removed stones and pebbles lying on
the dry riverbed and later sowed seeds. Already we have harvested
good quantity of jower, field bean. We are making seeds of few grams,
which will be helpful for the next sowing in our agriculture land.”

Farmer Sreenivasan said:
“We do not find any difficulty to cultivate the river bed and
harvest crops. It was nearly a decade ago, when the water level had
dropped similarly we had harvested crops in the same manner.”